Merck To Fully Acquire Israeli Quantum Materials Company Qlight Nanotech

01-Jul-2015 - Israel

Merck announced that it is acquiring the remaining stake in Qlight Nanotech Ltd., Jerusalem, Israel, and will hold 100% of the company. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

“The acquisition of Qlight Nanotech perfectly fits into our innovation strategy. We have set the basic platforms for growth in our three business sectors to grow organically and driven by innovation. Innovations are our lifeblood,” said Karl-Ludwig Kley, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck.
By exploiting new technologies Merck aims to strengthen its leadership in liquid crystal display materials and growing presence in OLED materials. Qlight Nanotech’s novel nanocrystals help to improve color impression and energy efficiency of modern displays.

Qlight Nanotech was founded in 2009 and since the beginning worked closely with Merck in a joint research program supported by the Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Economy as part of its Multinational Company Cooperation Program. Merck has invested into Qlight Nanotech in two steps in 2012 and 2013 already before. Qlight Nanotech will remain the quantum materials research hub for the Performance Materials business sector of Merck.

Professor Uri Banin, the scientific founder of Qlight Nanotech, added, "I am excited about this important step for the future of the company. There are clear synergies for Qlight’s quantum materials with Merck’s dominant position in the display market. This is a landmark opportunity for Qlight Nanotech – solidifying its activity in Jerusalem, while benefitting from close interaction with our research group, and the Hebrew University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. The research at the Hebrew university will also greatly benefit from such close interactions and ties with Merck”.

Qlight Nanotech is a spin-off of Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "The combination of breakthrough innovation from the lab of Prof. Banin with Merck, a global leader in liquid crystal technologies, created this success of Qlight that was the first start up acting inside the Safra Campus in Jerusalem employing directly around 20 employees,” said Yaacov Michlin, CEO of Yissum and Chairman of the Board of Qlight Nanotech.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/153502/merck-to-fully-acquire-israeli-quantum-materials-company-qlight-nanotech.html